The consumer in today's market is limited to a particular retailer's or department store's inventory, selection and styles. Traditionally, a consumer shops for items from different stores with the anticipation and hope that the items will coordinate. Alternatively, a consumer will wait for an opportunity to try on all the different items purchased and return those items that do not coordinate. Recent technological advances have attempted to enhance the shopping ability through the use of e-commerce, sometimes referred to as “online buying” or “online shopping.”
There are differences inherent between “online buying” and “online shopping” in that current e-commerce transactions are based on the individual buying goods or services online that they have either decided to buy prior to logging on to the internet or find as a result of bargain hunting on the internet. There is very little, if any, true shopping on the internet. Most women define shopping as an “experience” “fun” “exciting” and the like. True shopping is going to a mall or department store with the intention of buying yet to be determined goods or services. Few consumers are getting on the internet with the same mindset that they have before they physically go shopping. It is the difference between logging onto the internet to buy an additional pair of Levi's Jeans and going shopping and then coming home with 2 pairs of Levi's Jeans, a belt, 2 sweaters and 2 shirts.
A particular problem that arises in connection with shopping electronically concerns color matching. Unlike true shopping where the buying experience involves the ability of the user to color-match articles based on actual appearances, the colors of the articles are mischaracterized when displayed for the shopper over a computer terminal. This alteration is largely due to miscalibrations at both the input (e.g., image capturing) and the output, for example, the display terminal itself. Consequently, few consumers are comfortable color matching items over the internet.